Thursday, May 01, 2008

The Ideal Palace, Ferdinand Cheval ~ Palácio Ideal, Ferdinand Cheval

Many times ago I saw in a magazine a reportage about the French postman Ferdinand Cheval and his Ideal Palace. I was enchanted with the talent, creativity and perseverance of this man. I never forgot him and his remarkable masterpiece. Ferdinand Cheval was forty-three years old when he started the foundation of the Ideal Palace, in 1879. Working alone for thirty-three years, he built a fairy-tale palace. Really, he was a remarkable men! Vocês também poderão ler um resumo de sua história incrível, clicando Aquie acessaro Google Tradutor.

Ferdinand Cheval was also a poet and his writings are chiseled all over the tunnels, sculptures and facades of the Palace. In the tunnel he wrote: "In creating this rock, I wanted to prove what the will can do."

Ferdinand Cheval (1836 – 19 August 1924), was a French postman (facteur in French) who spent 33 years of his life building an "Ideal Palace" (in French Palais Idéal) which is regarded as an extraordinary example of naïve art architecture.Ferdinand Cheval lived in Châteauneuf-de-Galaure, in the Drôme département of France. He had left school at the age of 13 to become a baker's apprentice but eventually became a postman. He wasn't a mason and not an architect.(Vocês poderão ler sua história em Português, Aqui)

A four-sided castle made from concrete, lime and wire, located in Hauterives, France.

CHEVAL TRIPPED OVER A STONE... One day, at the age of 43, French postman Ferdinand Cheval tripped over a stone when he was out walking. He was so inspired by that beautiful stone that he went back the next day and began collecting stones. From this day forward, Cheval embarked on a 27-year period of collecting stones. At first, Cheval carried the stones home in his pants pockets, later he used baskets and finally Cheval acquired a wheelbarrow. He scoured the countryside for days and nights at a time on his mail route, sleeping in farmhouses and under the stars. He stock-piled the stones he brought back in his yard, which convinced his neighbors that he had gone mad, but he was determined to build the castle and grottoes that had populated his dreams 15 years earlier.

A MAILMAN BY DAY AND AN ARCHITECT BY NIGHT.... Cheval was a mailman by day and an architect by night, building his palace of stones and intricately carved concrete with no assistance from anyone. It took him 34 years of continuous toil to finish his castle, which many sculptures of gods, temples, animals, pilgrims, fountains and towers. The monument's structure is 26 meters long by 14 meters wide and up to 10 meters high, with internal passages lined with sea shells and external stairs and walkways. Cheval bound the stones together with lime, mortar and cement. It is covered with inscriptions of all sorts. An inscription in the north east corner states "10,000 days, 9300 hours , 33 years of toil".Cheval also wanted to be buried in his palace. However, since that is illegal in France, he proceeded to spend eight more years building a mausoleum for himself in the cemetery of Hauterives. Cheval died on August 19, 1924, aged 88, around a year after he had finished building it, and is buried there. In his autobiography, Cheval wrote that his idea for the monument originated in a dream. Cheval told no one about his dream, afraid he would be ridiculed. Just prior to his death, Ferdinand Cheval began to receive some recognition from luminaries like André Breton and Pablo Picasso. In 1969, André Malraux the Minister of Culture, declared the Palace Ideal as a cultural landmark and had it officially protected.

63 comments:

Oh Thanks Sonia for all these beautiful and interesting photos. I know this place but I have never visited it. My Parent yes and that is an extraordinary place and a famous and wonderful palace. Thanks to Ferdinand Cheval !

Considering he wasn't a mason the sculpturing is fantastic. It would be an amazing place to see in person to get a true perspective and appreciation of the amount of love and labor that went into this work of art. Thanks for all the wonderful photos - I had never heard of this before.

What an incredibel piece of engineering! And all the work of only one man.... hardly believable! I should love to visit this place in person. Most exraordinary, and thank you so much for sharing these photos, I did not know that such an interesting place existed in Frence.

This is quite amazing Sonia. It makes the work of our Helen Martin, at the Owl House, Nieu Bethesda pale into insignificance. Though she was also quite an eccentric. Seems unreal that someone could become so obsessed with building such a structure.

Oh my Sonia!! This is so amazing!! I have never heard of this before or seen it. It would be wonderful to see this in person!! It is truly amazing that one man did all this work! Just shows what we can do when we make up our minds to do it! Awesome! Thanks for sharing this!

This is FANTASTIC Sonia...! What an amazing thing this man did....I couldn't help but think of The Watts Towers, here in L.A. Also built by one man, NOT an Architect...from all found materials...This Palace is an astounding [iece of work...He was such an ARTIST! It is incredibly inspiring, isn't it?Thank you for this Spnia. I have never heard of this before, and I just LOVE the whole look of it and especially found the "detail" Pictures absolutely THRILLING!For some reason the Video was not there for me...Something was there but it never did anything. I will have to find it on the Net!

Sorry I haven't been here for DAYS and DAYS....I have been very involved in taking Hundreds---Well, Thousands of pictures of this Hawks Nest...Every day I am following the Babys, etc....Then I have to look at all of them and work with them...So, I just haven't been anywhere hardly....Time has just gotten away from me...! I'm so glad I got here today, my dear. THIS was a real treat, in every way.

I had never heard of this person or the palace he built. What a legacy he left for the world. In L.A. we have the Watts Towers--nothing as complex as what you have shared, but it is pretty amazing to see. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Towers

Just to let you know that the sign:"Defense de rien toucher" means" it is prohibited to touch nothing" so go head and touch everything which in fact make more sens knowing the Facteur Cheval et si vous vous posez des questions a propos de la traduction; je suis francais. Merci pour cette page dedicacee a Cheval.